What don't I know from watching YouTube hunts?

[180ls1]

I drew my first Antelope tag (Sept rifle)! That said, my only "antelope-specific" education is from watching several dozen hunts on YouTube. What should I know that I probably haven't picked up on?

I've killed plenty of other animals (deer, elk, pigs, javelina, bear, etc...) and have done a lot of western hunting. The unit I drew is 80%+ success.

 

[fisherman983]

People will be everywhere. They are much harder to judge than you would think. They get spooked easily... don't shoot the first, second or even the 10th one you see unless you know how to field score fast and accurately enough to ensure it's as big as you want it to be.

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[JFK]

They have better eyes than most animals and them spotting you will get you busted faster than them smelling you. Practice your shooting in field positions. Prone is good when you can make it work but the sagebrush will often prevent it and you need to be in sitting or high kneeling position.

 

[Kurts86]

Everything will poke you, wear gloves and pants with knee pads. Have tweezers on you at all times.

 

[Trapline]

Everything will poke you, wear gloves and pants with knee pads. Have tweezers on you at all times.

Just started wearing knee pads in the field, don't know why i didn't sooner. Liking them aot.

 

[Miflatlander91]

Figured out the cactus one real quick on my first antelope hunt. What everyone else said they have great eyes and can cover some ground quick that said go out and have fun you’ll get opportunities it’s a blast


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[Brokenstraw]

Everything will poke you, wear gloves and pants with knee pads. Have tweezers on you at all times.

Any recommendations on knee pads?

 

[Kurts86]

Any recommendations on knee pads?

Any mid weight pants with the knee pad slot built in. Sitka comes to mind first but kuiu and first lite both have something similar.

 

[wapitibob]

I've seen cactus go right thru hard plastic knee pads; best rule is to watch where you go. Cactus will go thru the side or the btm of your shoe as well. I haven't seen many hunters on any of the 10ish hunts I've been on, don't go the opener. Give enough time to cover the unit and note where the better Bucks are then go hunt them.

 

[TxLite]

Prone is good when you can make it work but the sagebrush will often prevent it and you need to be in sitting or high kneeling position.

As others have stated, there are way more cactus than you would expect and they get into everything. In addition to the sage height, we had to make a conscious effort to find a decent amount of ground to get prone for shots just due to the amount of cactus.

On the same vein, don’t get the mesh style breathable boots. The cactus will ruin your day quick with those.

 

[JohnJohnson]

Any recommendations on knee pads?

If $70 isn't a big issue, the Arcteryx knee pads are extremely good for external kneepads.

 

[deertrout]

Planning the route you're going to take to the animal you've spotted is pretty important and is something I'm not sure I've seen a lot of antelope hunting videos talk about. Might be a no brainer if you're used to western hunting, but mark the animals location on whatever mapping app you're using, make your best guess on direction and pace of travel and plan a route to a place you can intercept without being seen. Antelope can cover ground in a hurry, even when it looks like they're just meandering around. Be prepared to get where you thought they'd be and then have to relocate them- its an easy time to get busted, especially if you feel rushed and stick your neck out at the wrong moment. I think that's one of the hardest things about stalking them in general, trying to keep tabs on their location while you're out of sight. Give yourself 3 or 4 days with multiple stalks to feel out what you can and can't get away with. That was my experience on my first antelope hunt before we could consistently get inside of 300-400yds.

A mesh ghillie jacket will help a ton, they seem to have a tough time picking you out with one on.

Also, the trophyline knee pads work pretty well and aren't too expensive.

When decoying, its been my experience that a lot of them tend to hang up around 100yds, especially if they're coming into the decoy from a distance. The better play there (during rut) has been to get within 150 or closer, then bring the decoy out when they're not looking. Doing this on a buck who has does to himself with a buck decoy is pretty deadly, but I prefer to not decoy at all whenever possible.

 

[TaperPin]

I drew my first Antelope tag (Sept rifle)! That said, my only "antelope-specific" education is from watching several dozen hunts on YouTube. What should I know that I probably haven't picked up on?

I've killed plenty of other animals (deer, elk, pigs, javelina, bear, etc...) and have done a lot of western hunting. The unit I drew is 80%+ success.

I think most YouTube videos of antelope stalks don’t do a good job of talking a person through their decision making process. Antelope country is flatish, but the slightest wash depression can make the difference between duck walking 100 yards or crawling. I think it’s often misunderstood that you don’t want to simply hand and knee it until you’re “close enough”, but rather aim for a shooting location, usually a slight knob or maybe just thicker/taller sage.

There is no amount of reading that can take the place of doing it. When you first arrive in the field as a rookie, I’m a big proponent of doing a few practice stalks on the first bucks you see. The more you do the better you’ll become, and the last thing you want is to be practicing on the biggest buck of the trip.

There is a “feel” you need to develop to know when to push it hard and when to move slow, and which animals aren’t approachable. The farther you can shoot accurately the better, but beware wind will usually be present - sometimes the stalking end point is chosen to be directly down wind so very little wind correction is needed.

The videos I don’t understand show guys on wide open public land hunting on foot like it’s mule deer season. You will get laughed at by the locals doing that. Unless you’re driving a Geo Metro, hunt like the locals do - glass from roads or jeep trails, especially with spotting scopes, until you find something worth going after. Randomly walking sagebrush country hoping to run into a buster buck is a very low odds method. This is also a reason to hunt out of a 4x4 vehicle with decent clearance - jeep trails are usually easy going, but being able to make it across washed out sections, or draws with very large brush, can save miles of back tracking. Maps showing the smallest two track jeep trails are essential - figure out where to glass from to see areas other people aren’t seeing - look up drainages, get up high to get a feel for what’s where, and constantly look for slight depressions that hide a few goats. You may look at the exact same country 10 times and think you know every antelope by name, until something pops up from an unseen draw that has kept them out of sight the whole time.

This will become obvious eventually, but don’t ever follow a two track over a ridge or knob if you can’t see where it’s going. Seismic trucks have made two tracks all across the west, sometimes going to the edge of drop offs - don’t make the locals laugh by driving over a bluff.

I’m not saying you need to be super aggressive, but antelope are known for moving around - when you see a good one, don’t diddle around with a plan that will take hours - the goat will walk off, or another hunter will assume he’s fair game and put the smash on him. This is combat hunting - don’t share information on the big buck two miles away with everyone that happens by, or that person may drive straight there and kill it. When you’re passed by another vehicle stop glassing and tell them you haven’t seen anything. If you’re stopped and looking at a decent buck 1000 yards away, don’t be offended if another truck stops 50 yards from you and kills the goat. It’s combat hunting. Lol

Get to know what you’re looking at and how realistic your expectations are. Some good years we’ve passed on half a dozen 15” goats a day, because they were funny shaped, or had small or broken prongs. In a bad year there may not be that many 14-1/2” racks. Hunt with your eyes.

 

[TaperPin]

For knee pads, just cheap volleyball pads work well enough.

 

[Andyram_18]

Judging antelope can be difficult. if you are after a big goat; spend time looking at LOTS of goats before you get serious about shooting. Look at the distance from the cutter up, and pay attention to width. Another thing I noticed (specific to WYO) is that often times they dont go real far when spooked. We chased the same group of goats around for 3 days and ended up killing the buck we were after in about a 2 mile radius of where we spent chasing.

 

[Boone-In-Wall]

...don't know why i didn't sooner...

this statement right here! Why have I not had knee pads for years? lol.

 

[Boone-In-Wall]

Any recommendations on knee pads?

I run the Kuiu Pro Pant. The knee pads are not removable, but they're never in the way.

 

[MarkOrtiz]

The best advise that I got from my neighbor (killed probably 35 pronghorn) was to practice field judging, but just go for one you will be happy with and don't worry about score. They are hard to judge and things happen and change so fast. Just adapt to the hunt and have fun. We did our first pronghorn hunt last year and it was one of the most fun hunts to do.

 

[Cameron.25]

Watch out for cactus! Kneeled, touched and stepped on several when i went after them lol

 

[mlchase]

Not all scenarios are going to be glass from a distance and plan for awhile to make a stalk....a lot of videos show that. i played guide for several buddies that were expecting that scenario....and instead, sometimes you roll up on some decent lopes and need to act fast. It is a fun hunt with a lot of glassing and looking/shopping, but it is only a spectator sport for so long and when it is time to get in the game, sometimes it is time to tag in QUICK. Prepare for judging on the fly and getting into predator mode from looking mode very quickly. My buddies were slow in that transition and cost us some good opportunities at some good animals....so be ready with rifle, sticks/bipod, binos and rangefinder and be ready to bail and start your stalk in an instant or some opportunites fade away in a cloud of dust....